After Transmigrating as a Scumbag Alpha, I Was Pampered by a Paranoid Omega - Chapter 11

Returning to the castle, Bai Manruo hurriedly placed her scavenged vase back in its original spot.

She guiltily stroked the knock-off, thinking it would just have to stand in for the million-yuan original for now. Once she caught the true culprit, she would definitely give the boss a full explanation.

Before dinner, Butler Li arrived as scheduled. Bai Manruo trailed behind her, watching nervously as the butler inspected the decorations in the main hall. When Butler Li reached the spot where the vase stood, Bai Manruo’s heart leaped into her throat, and she swallowed hard.

Seeing Ji Yingqing coming downstairs, Bai Manruo intentionally crowded near Butler Li to create a loud distraction: “Miss Ji must be so tired after a long day of work! Butler Li, I’m going to go take care of Miss Ji’s dinner! Are you hungry, Butler Li? Do you want to join us for a bite?”

Butler Li shot her a glare and tilted her head away from the noise. Hearing her words, the butler’s gaze finally drifted away from the celadon vase.

Bai Manruo breathed a sigh of relief at the diversion. However, after greeting Ji Yingqing, Butler Li turned her eyes right back to the vase.

Bai Manruo watched as Butler Li carefully picked it up and turned it over to inspect it. When the butler saw the characters on the bottom, her brow furrowed deeply, and her expression turned grim.

It’s over. Did she notice something?!

Bai Manruo watched Butler Li’s face turn from red to white to a sickly green; she looked furious.

Thinking she was truly doomed, Bai Manruo turned to flee, but Butler Li barked out her name to stop her. She was forced to stand there helplessly as the butler marched over to the dining table with the counterfeit vase and pointed out the inscription on the bottom to Ji Yingqing.

Bai Manruo expected the boss to be livid, but strangely, the boss looked like she was suppressing a laugh. Before she could stare too long, Butler Li summoned her over.

There goes my three million yuan, Bai Manruo thought. Dreading the confrontation, she took her sweet time shuffling over to the table.

Seeing her “ready for the executioner” expression, the corners of Ji Yingqing’s mouth twitched. She knew Bai Manruo was currently “swallowing bitter gold”—suffering in silence with a grievance she couldn’t voice. After all, Ji Yingqing was the one who had actually broken the vase.

However, Ji Yingqing didn’t ask about the vase directly. Instead, she said, “You went out today? To the antique street.” It was phrased as a question, but her tone was certain.

Bai Manruo looked up in shock, her eyes screaming: How do you know?

Ji Yingqing’s lips curled into a smile, amusement dancing in her eyes. Right in front of her, she flipped the vase over and read the inscription word for word: “Product of the Antique Street Porcelain Works.”

What?!

Mortified, Bai Manruo covered her face with both hands, her earlobes turning a bright red. She wanted nothing more than for the earth to swallow her whole. She had been so happy with her find that she hadn’t even checked the bottom. No wonder the boss was holding back a laugh.

Beside them, Butler Li frowned at the harmonious atmosphere. In all her years as a butler, she had never encountered such a blatant issue. To her, this was both an insult and a provocation.

Butler Li bowed to Ji Yingqing and spoke: “Miss Ji, this servant committed theft and then attempted to deceive her master with a cheap street-stall fake. Such a person cannot stay in the castle, let alone care for you. She should be made to pay triple the breach-of-contract penalty plus the cost of the vase before being kicked out.”

Ignoring her embarrassment, Bai Manruo quickly explained to Ji Yingqing, “I didn’t do it on purpose! And I really wasn’t the one who broke the vase!”

Butler Li gave a disdainful snort. “If you didn’t break it, why did you guiltily buy a fake to replace it?”

“I just… look, it wasn’t me! Can’t you just deduct it from my salary?” Bai Manruo pleaded, her eyes inadvertently meeting Ji Yingqing’s.

Taking her words as a confession, Butler Li immediately said to Ji Yingqing, “Miss Ji, she’s admitted it. We can’t keep a servant like this. Why don’t we kick her out tonight—”

Before she could finish, Ji Yingqing interrupted her, her voice casual and indifferent: “She has a good attitude regarding her mistake. Just be careful next time.”

Butler Li wanted to say more, but she was cut off by a cold tone: “It is dinner time now.”

Feeling the chill in those words, Butler Li instantly shut her mouth and swallowed her protest. She told Bai Manruo to take good care of the Young Mistress during dinner and promptly left.

Bai Manruo couldn’t believe it had ended just like that. She had truly thought she was being thrown out.

Ji Yingqing’s slender knuckles tapped against the glass tabletop with a crisp clack. Bai Manruo’s drifting thoughts snapped back, and she looked up with a forced smile. “What is it, Miss Ji?”

Ji Yingqing’s thin lips parted to utter two words: “Eat dinner.” There was a hint of irresistibility in her voice.

Bai Manruo, who had gorged herself at the snack street on the way back, was about to say “I’m not hungry” when her gaze collided with Ji Yingqing’s. She was the first to look away, but even that one-second eye contact made her heart race. The thumping sound seemed to pulse all the way to her ears, leaving her flustered.

She sat at the furthest possible spot at the table, eating half-heartedly.

“Are you very thirsty?” a cool voice drifted to her ears.

Ji Yingqing propped her left hand against her cheek, her silk sleeve sliding down to her elbow to reveal a pale, slender arm with faint blue veins tracing through the delicate skin. Her lashes flickered as she lifted her gaze toward Bai Manruo. She had been silently watching her ever since she sat down, observing how she did nothing but gulp down water.

Bai Manruo looked up to see that bewitching face staring at her with a half-smile. Flustered, she took another gulp of ice water. This time, however, the ice water was masking the fact that she was practically salivating over the view.

This must be what they mean by “a feast for the eyes,” the idiom flashed through her mind.

Seeing her silence, Ji Yingqing wrapped her long fingers around her own water glass. “I have more here.”

Bai Manruo snapped out of it and waved her hands frantically, shaking her head. “No, no thank you! I’m full.”

Seeing such a defensive reaction, Ji Yingqing pursed her lips. She rubbed the glass with her thumb before letting go and standing up slowly. “Then get some rest early,” she said coldly.

Suddenly, Bai Manruo was the only one left at the table. She looked at the empty chair across from her; the boss had barely touched the food.

“Why did her attitude change so fast?” Bai Manruo muttered to herself. “Did I say something wrong? But I only said two things the whole time…”

A boss’s heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea.

Though she couldn’t figure it out, she knew that if the boss got sick from not eating, she—the “nanny”—would be held responsible. She picked out the dishes she thought the boss would like, placed them on a tray, and headed upstairs.